The latest on Joel Hanrahan hasn't changed in some time. He is in Lakeland, Fla. He is building up arm strength. He was scheduled to throw a bullpen session -- fastballs only -- at some point this week. It sounds like it will be a while before he's ready to pitch in the majors.

Joel Hanrahan

The question no one seems to be asking is this: "What should Tigers fans expect of Joel Hanrahan once he is ready?"

My answer: Probably less than many seem to be expecting.

Hanrahan is coming off Tommy John surgery. It takes a good chunk of time before a pitcher regains his full effectiveness once he returns after having the surgery. The reason some Tigers fans should lower expectations for Hanrahan in 2014 is the same reason Tigers fans should expect next little out of Bruce Rondon in 2015: It's extremely rare for a pitcher to come back from Tommy John and pitch as well right away as he did immediately prior to it.

A lot of fans are overly hopeful that whichever pitcher or player is waiting in the wings is going to swoop in and change the look of the team. (It's the same reason some fans expected Corey Knebel to hop off the bus from Toledo and slide into the setup role or close some games.) By all accounts, there was a lot of interest in Hanrahan across the league as he made his way back from Tommy John surgery. But the Tigers didn't spend that much to get him. If he was anything close to a sure thing to contribute in the late innings, another team would have paid more. Much, much more.

Hanrahan very well may contribute for the Tigers this season. But it would be wise for fans to lower their expectations just a bit.

On to more questions:

@Chris_Iott When the Tigers get out of their current funk, who do you see as the Tiger that needs to step up big time?

Just one? Wow. That's tough. There are a slew of candidates right now. The Tigers need Austin Jackson, Torii Hunter, Alex Avila, Nick Castellanos and whoever is playing shortstop to hit better. Hunter has really not been good defensively at all. Joe Nathan absolutely needs to step it up. Justin Verlander needs to pitch better. Really, picking one is impossible.

Phil Coke is an obvious answer, but he plays such a smaller role than the others listed that he's not "the one." The only reason I mentioned him is because one of you would burn me in effigy if I didn't.

@Chris_Iott With Suarez being such a highly touted prospect what is the plan for the future assuming Iglesias is able to come back healthy?

First, I want to address your assessment that Eugenio Suarez is "such a highly touted prospect." Now, I'm not going to say he doesn't have potential. You never know how these things will work out. He might be a future superstar. But really, he has not been that highly touted. Not like Castellanos or even Rondon were.

When MLB.com released its most recent list of top 2014 prospects, Suarez was listed as the sixth-best prospect in the Tigers' system, which doesn't have a slew of guaranteed stars. Suarez is not listed on MLB's top 100 prospects in the majors and is also not listed on MLB's list of top 10 shortstop prospects.

Having a logjam of talented middle infielders would be a best-case scenario for the Tigers. That would allow them to trade a young player from a position of strength to fill a position of weakness. But at this point, I would expect Jose Iglesias to be the starting shortstop at the start of the 2015 season.

Suarez is listed as day to day after tweaking his knee with an awkward slide into second base Wednesday. A decision might be coming. Yes, if for some reason Suarez were to be placed on the disabled list right now, Hernan Perez would likely be recalled. He is on the 40-man roster and has had a couple cups of coffee in the majors already.

First-base coach Omar Vizquel could certainly play shortstop, probably better than some shortstops in the majors. But could he hit? No disrespect to Vizquel, but he is 47 years old and hit .235 with a .546 OPS in 2012, his final season in the majors. He could handle the position defensively. But he wouldn't hit.

@Chris_Iott What could the Tigers possibly expect Suarez to give them that Romine doesn't? He's not exactly ARod Jr

First of all, he hits right-handed while Andrew Romine, a switch hitter, hits better left-handed. But the main reason Suarez will get a heavy dose of playing time is this: The Tigers probably want to see what they have in him, to test whether he's ready to play and hit as a major leaguer. If he plays well, the urgency to get a shortstop at the trade deadline might be reduced. If he doesn't, then Dave Dombrowski might have to scour other teams harder to find a trade partner.

@Chris_Iott over/under on number of Tigers to start a game at shortstop this year?

For the most part, this team is going to have to win or lose in the general form it is right now. The Tigers could get a rental-type player to play shortstop or attempt to upgrade the bullpen a bit, but I just don't see them spending the resources (in young talent) or the resources (in high salaries) to make a huge move.

Despite what you have seen recently, this team can win. The season is long. Who knows how the Tigers will be playing three or four months from now. But a lot of the players on the team are going to have to play better than they are right now. A whole bunch of players. And a whole lot better.

If you extrapolate their current winning percentage over the course of an entire season, the Tigers are on pace to win 90 games. That should be enough to win the American League Central Division. If they do that, they have a shot to win it all. Every team that makes the playoffs does. But right now? The Tigers have won four of their past 17 games. As of right now, no, they're not any good. A winning percentage of .235 in a span of almost three weeks says that. But they were really, really good before that. Time will tell whether they are really, really good again.

@Chris_Iott with the constant battle whenever Phil Coke comes in, why aren't the tigers replacing him with Below? Both are lefties

Well, for one, Duane Below has issued 27 walks in 59 innings, although he has had fewer walks in recent outings. Also, if the Tigers are looking for a left-handed specialist out of the bullpen, Below might not be the guy. His strikeouts-to-walk ratio in three partial seasons in the majors is much better against left-handed hitters than right-handers, but left-handers have hit .295 against him.

One of the reasons Phil Coke remains on the roster is because the Tigers do not have any obvious alternatives in the minors. Lefties in the majors have about 9,000 lives because every team seems to have a shortage of them. Coke has benefited from that fact.

No. Really. There was basically none at all. Dombrowski said in March that the Tigers did not expect Jose Iglesias to return at any point during the 2014 season. He left a glimmer of hope open because that's generally what general managers do. There apparently was a very slight chance that Iglesias could have made an amazing recovery, but even so, he wouldn't have played until extremely late in the season. The end to this chapter of his story was all but completed in March, when the Tigers announced he had stress fractures in both legs.

@Chris_Iott Is Knebel here to stay? What about when Hanrahan is ready?

I never expect a relief pitcher to be called up from the minors for the first time and then stick around forever, especially one with as little professional experience as Corey Knebel has. The Tigers drafted him almost exactly a year ago. He has pitched 15 innings at the Double-A level and four innings for Triple-A Toledo. To expect him to be promoted to the big leagues and to never return to Toledo is expecting a bit much.

What you've seen since he joined the Tigers is what you get at this point. His curveball is filthy. That has helped him strike out five in 4 2/3 innings. But he also has a 9.64 ERA and a 1.929 WHIP through five outings. It's early. The sample size is small. But even a guy as talented as Knebel needs a bit of time to get things worked out. He'll probably be back and forth a bit this season.

@Chris_Iott Does Dave Dombrowski still have the receipt for Joe Nathan and, if so, what's the return policy on closers?

The No. 1 candidate would be left-hander Kyle Lobstein, who struggled terribly to start the season but has been much better recently. In fact, Lobstein has allowed a total of five earned runs in his past seven starts. He is on the 40-man roster, which wouldn't hurt his cause.

@Chris_Iott Would anyone on the Tigers (besides coaching staff) know who The Replacements are?

I would bet that Worth knows of The Replacements, the greatest band ever. But they broke up in the early 1990s, before a handful of Tigers players guys were even born. As of Wednesday morning, Worth had the best taste in music of any of the Tigers. Not sure who takes over that honor at this point. Guess I'll have to do some asking around.